ATHENS, Ga.- Notre Dame may be coming to Sanford Stadium before the decade is over, and Georgia may be headed to South Bend.

The two schools are holding discussions on a football series, Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity confirmed on Tuesday, though he did not indicate that a deal is close to being finalized, and that discussions have been "all verbal."

"We have conversations with a number of institutions about future games. Notre Dame is one of many," McGarity said on Tuesday.

The discussions were first reported by CBSsports.com, which said the matchups would potentially be in 2018-19.

Last year Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly referred to Georgia as a "natural" rivalry, a comment that elicited some confused reaction around the Butts-Mehre building. But McGarity has said he is open to playing another high-level nonconference game "every now and then."

Georgia and Notre Dame have met just once: In the 1981 Sugar Bowl for the national championship, which the Bulldogs won.

McGarity has proceeded cautiously on nonconference scheduling because of the uncertainty around the SEC schedule. The conference could still go to a nine-game schedule as soon as 2016, so Georgia has held off on scheduling anything other than the annual rivalry with Georgia Tech and some home matchups with lower-level teams.

At one time Georgia and Ohio State were supposed to meet in 2020-21. But Ohio State asked for the series to be canceled because of Big Ten scheduling issues.

About Jason Butt

Jason Butt joins The Telegraph after spending the past two years covering high school sports for The Washington Post. A 2009 University of Georgia graduate, he's also covered the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons for CBSSports.com.